Ed King's Cows Graze at Sammy T's

by Mirinda Reynolds

The end of a great evening- Barrett and mom celebrate

All of Barrett's ink paintings are enlarged from sketches

Sammy T's Opening Art Recption Dec 02, 2011

Several students from area schools visited our opening evening, and came prepared with lots of questions. Barrett handled the moment without missing a beat, and is now ready for any public speaking event!

Sammy T's Restaurant hosted us on First Friday December with

over 60 new works displayed by FA student Barrett, myself,

and artist Ed King.

Most of the show is still on display until December 31st.

Forty-some cows, buffalo, mules, and even Frankenstein surrounds each visitor in the front dining area, while Barrett's large cubist ink paintings filled the windows of the frozen yogurt shop for one evening only. Portraits and dancers were my focus this time around.

Our goals as mother/son exhibiting duo included:

celebrating children artists as valid, valuable creative forces and providing a forum for self-expression, also

breaking the glass ceiling of galleries, restaurants, and public places for children to share their work as artists.

Many galleries offer a month of student work to show, sell, and exhibit, and then focus the other eleven months on adults' work. The new and emerging art space where I share a classroom after school hours, The Creative Side, focuses on students each month, just slightly off the beaten First Friday path. We are located on Jackson Street, where the Roxbury Mills tile mural can be found, and hope to be part of a multi-use rezoned area. Our place is not sales-driven, for we offer students a chance to display unpriced new work for the public every First Friday from 5-8pm.

If you are looking for a great place for your child to get involved any month with First Fridays in a child-friendly, non-sales atmosphere, stop by or sign up for a free trial class with one of our 8 teachers. I also have a display section for any FA student who wishes to have work shown.

thecreativeside.com gives a complete list of classes offered for the new year.

As part of the FA 4th grade curriculum, students visited an outdoor classroom and studied ecology in September. This started the idea of giving back to our hosts, and

we were able share proceeds from the show with Friends of the Rappahannock. Thank you all, FA families and art patrons, for a tremendous showing of support for both art openings occurring simultaneously . Thank you also, Girl Scouts, who interviewed each artist and experienced a busy First Friday.

Happy Holidays-

Mrs. Reynolds